Patent-leather and process of making same.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VALTER D. FIELD, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE LAKOII) MANUFACTURINGCOMPANY, OF NE\V JERSEY.

PATENT-LEATHER AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 627,493, dated June 2'7, 1899.

Application filed March 5, 1898. Serial No. 672,749. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.- of these materials the varnish has had to be Be it known that I, WALTER D. FIELD, a thick and not thin, because if thin it would citizen of the United States, residing at Newpenetrate the inner coatings and render the ark, in the county of Essex and State of New patent-leather brittle. It is also a very well- 5 Jersey, have invented certain new and useknown fact in the industries where linseedful Improvements in Patent-Leather and Procoil and its products are used that all the coatesses of Making the Same, of which the folings caused by the oxidation of linseed-oil lowing is a specification. are more or less brittle and become more and My invention relates to patent, enameled, more brittle with age, so that shoe-manufacre japanned, or varnished leather or similar turers and other users of patent and enamfiexible material and to processesfor making eled leather always try to get fresh leather the same. and use it as soon as possible. My invention It hasfor its object the production of a patavoids these defects and produces upon skins, ent-leather, &c., the finish of which will not hides, or split hides or any leather or any ab- I 5 crack or age so quickly'as that of patentsorbent flexible material a coating that will leathers at present made and that willbe more not oxidize, (and so become rancid and britflexible and yet stronger. tle,) that will be flexible and yet tough, and It consists of the processes and product that will hold the varnish on the surface of herein set out. the coating. In other Words, I produce a 20 It is well known that in the manufacture of flexible non-penetrable coating on an absorbpatent, enameled, japanned, or varnished ent flexible material and then varnish it with leather severalcoats are applied and that each a thin flexible varnish. coat has to be heated to some extent in order In carrying out my invention I first pretoproducethematerial sought. This method pare a composition containing pyroxylin, a

25 of long-continued heating of the leather tends thickened non-drying oil, and a solvent that to destroy its pliability and strength, and this is a solvent of both the other ingredients. is true of bark-tanned leather and even more The thickened non -drying oil may be preso of chrome-tanned leather. In fact the use pared in the usual way by blowing with air, of chrome tanned leathers in the patentas is well known in the art of compounds of 3o leather industries has up to the present time blown oil and pyroxylin. The group of thickbeen prevented by this necessity of artificially ened non-drying oils that are suitable for the heating the leather during the process. It purposes of my invention are generally the has also been known in the patent-leather inglycerids of the unsaturated fatty acids. dustries that thethinner the coats of Varnish Castor-oil, after blowing with air or boiling 35 that could be applied to the leather to proin an open kettle until thick, may be used duce the gloss the less liability there would for the purposes of my invention. Itis, howbe of the enameling cracking. In the orcliever, not as good an oil for the purpose as nary production of the patent-leather for corn-oil, cotton-seed oil, cod-liver oil or menshoes, tipping, or Vamps it was necessary. haden-oil, olive-oil, and peanut-oil. 9o

40 really to so prepare the previous coats that In preparing the composition for the inner the Varnish could not penetrate the coatings coating Ipre'ferably take fifteen gallons, more and render them brittle. It is also true that or less, of amyl actetate and dissolve in it up to the present time no flexible coatings fifteen pounds of soluble cotton or pyroxylin; have been produced outside of rubber and Then this is thoroughly dissolved, I take 5 45 oil. The oil coating has been the one used fifty or sixtypounds of thickened non-drying in the manufacture of patent-leather, the oil oil, in which has been ground the desired having been prepared by boiling until it was quantity of pigment, (one to two pounds of in the condition of sweet meats or long black pigment would answer,) and slowly indaub, short daub,&c., and then these macorporate it with the solution of soluble cot- 10o 5o terials have been applied as the operator ton in the amyl acetate. Thismixture is now wished. In varnishing, coats made with any ready to apply to the leather or other absorbout material, and in doing this I may use the leather to artificial heats ordinary slicker of the art. After applying several coats and drying them between each coat, which is preferably done by exposure for twelve hours to ordinary atmospheric temperatures without artificial heat, (preferably supplemented by a sunning for five or six hours without artificial heat,) the leather is ready to varnish. For varnishing any suitable oil-varnish is used, except that it is used in a much more fluid condition than has heretofore been possible in the making of patentleathers, &c.that is to say, it is a thin varnish in contrast with the ordinary varnish heretofore used for the purpose. In fact, it contains one-third more diluent than the varnish ordinarily used by patent-leather manufacturers. The varnish coat maybe dried in the usual way by five or six hours of artificial heat. The nature of the inner composition or coating used is such that this thin varnish, although of high penetrating properties, does not penetrate it, but remains upon it in the form of acontinuous adhesive glossy film that is flexible and does not crack and does not separate from the inner coatings. In this way a thin and flexible outer varnish coating can be produced on patent-leather thinner and more flexible than has heretofore been possible and more durable. The oil used in the pyroxylin compoundthat is to say, the thickened non-dryingoilmust be thickened to such a point that it will not exude or spew or sweat out on the surface of the coating when the coated leather is dried. If unthickened oil were used in this inner pyroxlin coating, it would grow rancid and the film would decompose in a very short time and would not have the required stability.

It is one of the objects of the introduction of the non-drying oil into the composition of the inner pyroxylin coating to prevent the contraction of the pyroxylin film as well as to render and keepit more flexible. In the use of pyroxylin solutions for wood-fillers or for laying the grain of wood, it is this contrac tion of the pyroxylin film that is especially operative and desirable. In the case of patent-leather, 810., such contraction would be undesirable.

By my invention chrome-tanned leather can be used in the manufacture of patent, enameled, &c., leather. Moreover, the process may be conducted without subjecting the (excepting only in drying the final varnish coat)that is to say, it may be conducted at ordinary atmospheric temperaturessuch as are obtained, for instance, outdoors in the shadow or in-the sunshineand this is the preferred form of the process. As a result the leather escapes the permanent injury that is inevitably caused it by long-continued artificial heat. Cousequently my improved patent leather is stronger and more durable than what has been made heretofore. By my invention also thinner and more flexible coatings, and therefore more durable coatings,'can be applied to the leather. By my invention also the outer varnish coating does not penetrate the leather or the inner coatings, and the brittleness that results from such penetration in ordinary patent-leathers is therefore avoided.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The process of makingpatent, enameled, japanned or varnished leather or other absorbent material, which consists in applying to the surface of the leather or other absorbent material a flexible coating containing pyroxylin and an oxidized or thickened non-drying oil dissolved in a solvent of both, and subsequently applying a flexible coating composed of a thin varnish, substantially as described.

2. The process of making patent, enameled, japanned or varnished leather, which consists in applying to the surface of the leather at ordinary atmospheric temperatures a flexible coating containing pyroxylin and an oxidized or thickened non-drying oil dissolved in a solvent of both, and subsequently applying a flexible coating composed of a thin varnish, substantially as described.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a flexible patent, enameled, japanned or varnished leather or other absorbent material, having an inner thin flexible coating containing pyroxylin and an oxidized or thickened nondrying oil, and an outer thin flexible coating composed of varnish, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

IVALTER D. FIELD.

' \Vi'tnesses:

Ms. C. HowELL, Gno. W. Mums, Jr. 

